AI & Beyond, Conversations about our Top 5 Priorities

The March 25, 2024 meeting of the Chief Learning and Talent Officer Board Meeting focused on rethinking and thinking differently in five key areas of learning and talent:

1. The real power of AI is not just about generating content, it is about personalization.

Elliott Masie cautioned to beware of “AI washing.” We should use AI to do things that we cannot do without it. He reminded us that our employees are already using AI (which i4cp’s research has shown), and urged the Board (and i4cp to get involved in setting standards for our industry.

2. Supporting managers in the face of all of the new demands made on them is not just about how we equip them; it’s about how we empower them.

We need to better understand the role of the manager, both in general terms as well as in the context of each organization. A key idea was that not every demand we send their way has the same weight. And we need to understand how different generations perceive and practice the role.

3. The future of leadership development is not just about the new capabilities we help them to master; it’s about the ecosystem we create to enable them to excel.

One board member focused on expanding the audience for leadership development, involving executives more deeply in the process, and even utilizing company alumni. Another focused on middle management, leveraging an external partner, and emphasizing a coaching approach. And yet another board member used a forum approach that supported succession in a very transparent process for 75 high potentials.

4. In the new hybrid world, it is not just about the team itself but about the network that enables that team.

Rob Cross led a discussion of his new research into team effectiveness. Among the key ideas were that we should not just do things to help teams, we must also take away the negatives that debilitate them. We talked about the three different forms of trust that support teams: benevolence, competence, and dependability. And we questioned whether we see teaming too often through the lens of our tools.

5. It is not just about how well we execute our talent strategy, but about how vigorously we interrogate that strategy.

A panel of three board members shared how they are rethinking their strategies. Among the takeaways were that we must routinely ask ourselves about the purpose of our talent strategy. What problems are we trying to solve? What outcomes do we want? Fundamentally, is our strategy the right one? And the board speculated that we may not be using the measures that we ought to be.

Full meeting summary, along with other meeting materials, are available under downloads.

CLTO Board members debrief at dinner after a successful meeting.